CHAI\ VIII.

1? Ill TAIN.

407

The portcullises of some gates were of oak covered with iron, and Lcland mentions oneat Pembroke composed “ex solido ferro.”

The Magecolles or machecoulis, under the parapet over the gate, between the salienttowers at the angle, contributed greatly to the defence of the entrance: they were intro-duced into Spain by the Arabs, and subsequently adopted by the Normans and Lombards wherever they established themselves.

The gateways of Caernarvon, Pembroke, Raby, Warwick, Canterbury, and many others,exhibit the perfection of this style, and are models of proportion and construction.

Walmgate Bar is the entrance from Hull; on the front are the arms of Henry V .

The fronts and sides arc embattled, and the barbican was similar to the other bar ; this

Fig. 407 \VALMGATE BAR.

HU' S>3

gate suffered greatly in the siege of 1644, and has since been subjected to still greaterinjury.

The walls adjoining the bar are built upon arches in the foundations, and appear tobe of great antiquity. \

Chester was a Roman city; its walls were rebuilt by Ethelred and Ethelfleda , about theyear 608, and their form is so entirely Roman, that the Saxons made no great changes inthe system adopted by their great precursors.

These walls are about 1^ miles in circumference; the top is paved sufficiently widefor two persons to walk abreast; there are four gates or principal entrances over thenorth-east bridge and water-gates, besides several posterns. Around the walls were for-merly several towers; that called the New, which projected towards the Dec, erectedin 1322, was 24 feet in height, and we learn from the archives of the city that thearchitect was John Helpstone. To the exterior are attached large iron rings for holdingthe vessels, which, before the harbour was choked up with sands, were admitted up to thewalls. Leading to the water tower was another, called Bonewaldesthorne, and thePhcenix tower, from which Charles I. saw his army defeated on Rowton Heath. TheGobelin’s tower is nearly destroyed, and the Sadler’s tower was taken down in 1780.

Chester is divided by four principal streets, crossing each other at right angles, and theroad for carriages is on a level with the basement of the houses, over which are coveredgalleriesor rows, for the accommodation of the foot passengers ; these galleries are approachedby flights of steps at the intersection and ends of the streets, and the houses extend overthem, being supported on stone and timber pillars.

Winchester. — The Saxon walls on the north side of the city are built of flint and hardmortar; at regular distances the ruins of the towers that formerly flanked them maybe traced, and in some situations they remain to their full height, being crenated, em-battled, and coped with freestone. The form of this ancient city was that of a paral-

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